Israel and the Middle East News Update Tuesday, March 12 Headlines: • US Senator Vows to Seek Recognition of Israeli Rule in Golan • Trump's Budget Includes $175m That Might Support Peace Plan • Jordan’s King Abdullah to Meet with VP Pence on Peace Plan • 12% Of Americans Think Israel is a Top Foreign Policy Partner • AG Delays Release of PM Investigation Material • Gantz: We’ll Sit in Government with ‘Anyone Jewish and Zionist’ • Going for the Green Vote: Netanyahu to Consider Cannabis Legalization • Nechama Rivlin Said Recovering Well after Lung Transplant Commentary: • New York Times: “Idolatry at the Western Wall” - By Bari Weiss, columnist at the New York Times • Al Monitor: “Would Israeli Unity Government Advance Trump’s Plan?” - By Yossi Beilin former Israeli Minister S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● Aaron Zucker, Associate Editor News Excerpts March 12, 2019 Ynet News US Senator Vows to Seek Recognition of Israeli Rule in Golan U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Monday vowed to push for U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in what would represent a new contentious political gift to Israel from the Trump administration. The South Carolina Republican said he aimed to change the current U.S.-designation of the Golan, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967, as disputed territory. He spoke during a tour of the frontier with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The Golan is not disputed. It is in the hands of Israel and will always remain in the hands of Israel,” Graham said from a cliff overlooking Syria.“My goal is to try to explain this to the administration,” he said. See also, “ Senator Graham says he will lobby Trump to recognize Golan as part of Israel” (Reuters) Ha’aretz Trump's Budget Includes $175m That Might Support Peace Plan The Trump administration’s budget plan for fiscal year 2020 includes $175 million that could support its Middle East peace plan, according to official documents released on Monday by the State Department and the White House. The documents show that the administration is planning to create a “Diplomatic Progress Fund” that will receive $175 million, and that this sum would be available to support the peace plan, if it is indeed presented after the upcoming Israeli election. The White House’s budget plan explains that the “Diplomatic Progress Fund” will provide “flexibility” in case there is progress towards regional peace. i24 News Jordan’s King AbdullaH to Meet witH VP Pence on Peace Plan Jordanian King Abdullah II will meet with US Vice President Mike Pence on Monday as the White House continues their efforts to drum up support for the reportedly imminent Middle East peace plan.The Hashemite king left Amman for Washington over the weekend to speak with members of Congress about strategic issues in the region, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.King Abdullah is scheduled to meet with the vice president on Monday, though President Donald Trump’s official schedule does not include time for the Jordanian leader.The Trump peace plan will be on Abdullah and Pence’s agenda, as the White House prepares to present the so-called “deal of the century” after Israel’s April 9 election. See also, “ King Abdullah to Meet With Pence to Discuss Middle East Peace Plan” (Ha’aretz) Jerusalem Post 12% Of Americans THink Israel is a Top Foreign Policy Partner Only 12 percent of Americans think Israel is a top foreign policy partner, according to a Pew study released in early March. According to the poll, 37 percent of Americans believe the UK would be the most valuable partner and after that China (26%). One percent less believe Canada would be the most important partner. However, more Republicans seem to believe Israel is a key partner, with 25 percent in comparison to the 5 percent of democrats. Germans were also asked which country they view as the most important foreign policy partner. No significant number mentioned Israel. Most Germans viewed France as that partner (61%). See also, “Partisan differences in the U.S. on top foreign policy partners” (Pew) 2 Ynet News AG Delays Release of PM Investigation Material Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Monday that he agreed to the request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s advocates, and will only release investigation materials regarding the PM's ordeals after the April 9 elections. The message was delivered to all the relevant parties in cases 1000, 2000 and 4000, that involved the prime minister. The advocates were requested to prepare accordingly regarding dates for a hearing, which are expected to take place no later than July 10th. Netanyahu's hearing will be conducted by Mandelblit while the others involved will face the Tel Aviv district attorney. The investigations material will be made available to the attorneys at the Tel Aviv DA’s office beginning on the 10th of April, the day following the elections. See also, “Netanyahu pre-trial hearing to take place by mid-July, attorney general says “(TOI) Times of Israel Gantz: We’ll Sit in Government witH ‘Anyone Jewish and Zionist’ Blue and White leader Benny Gantz on Monday said he was open to sitting in a coalition with “anyone Jewish and Zionist,” apparently ruling out non-Jewish minorities as potential partners. Speaking to a crowd of some 500 people in the southern city of Beersheba — and facing questions from the public for the first time — Gantz also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign over the mounting corruption allegations against him. The former IDF chief of staff discussed the prospects of future coalition partnerships as Netanyahu faced accusations of racism for suggesting that Arab Israelis have no place in Israel’s government. See also, “Haaretz Election Poll: Support for Gantz Drops Dramatically, Right-wing Bloc in the Lead” (Ha’aretz) Jerusalem Post Going for tHe Green Vote: PM to Consider Cannabis Legalization Prime Minsiter Netanyahu jumped on the cannabis legalization trend on Monday night, saying he would look into the policy. In response to a question about the matter on the LikudTV webcast, which can be viewed on Netanyahu’s Facebook page, he said: “I am now looking into the matter you brought up. I will give you an answer soon. It’s possible that it will happen.” The remarks come as Zehut straddled the 3.25% electoral threshold, surpassing it in some recent polls. Party leader and former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin is attracting many traditionally right-wing voters, and he has refused to commit to sitting in a government helmed by Netanyahu or Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. Feiglin has advocated cannabis legalization for years, and it is part of his Zehut party’s platform. See also, “As pro-pot rival sweeps in, Netanyahu says he will consider legalizing cannabis” (TOI) TOI NecHama RiVlin Said RecoVering Well after Lung Transplant Nechama Rivlin, wife of President Reuven Rivlin, was awake and alert Tuesday morning after a undergoing a lung transplant the day before.“Nechama was taken of respiration this morning, she is awake, and she is talking and making contact with the medical team and members of her family,” the president’s residence said in a statement. Doctors at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where Rivlin is being treated, noted that the early days after a transplant are “critical,” and that Rivlin faces a long road to recovery, the statement said. Medical staff are satisfied with her progress so far. Rivlin, 73, suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a condition in which scar tissue accumulates in the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe. She has usually been seen in public with a portable oxygen tank. 3 New York Times– MarcH 11, 2019 Idolatry at the Western Wall By Bari Weiss, columnist at the New York Times • It is a strange experience to have another person spit on you. To have an ultra-Orthodox teenager look you dead in the eye and mutter “shiksa” or “kalba” — the Hebrew word for bitch — and then decide you deserve a little something more than a slur because he knows you are a liberal Jew. That this happened several times here Friday morning, on International Women’s Day at the Western Wall, tells you a lot about the state of religious liberty in a country that prides itself on being the Middle East’s only free nation — and about the resilience of activists who refuse to allow fundamentalists to control public Jewish life. • The Women of the Wall are used to getting spit on, not to mention shoved, scratched, kicked and pelted with dirty diapers. For the past 30 years, the feminist prayer group has held a monthly service in the women’s section of the Western Wall, where they wear prayer shawls and read from the Torah. Walk into any Reform or Conservative synagogue in the world and women will be doing exactly that, without fanfare, often in synagogues helmed by female rabbis. But at the Western Wall, which, like other holy sites in Israel, is controlled by the Chief Rabbinate, such egalitarian displays inspire angry protests. Ultra-Orthodox Jews see such behavior at the holy site as sacrilege, and various members of Women of the Wall have been arrested for “disturbing the public order.” • The feminist group is not just protesting the state of affairs at the wall. They are protesting the rabbinate’s monopoly on Jewish life in the Jewish state. Despite the fact that the vast majority of Israeli Jews are not Orthodox, the ultra-Orthodox hold the keys not just to Israel’s Jewish sacred places, but to the life cycle events — circumcisions, conversions, weddings, divorces, burials — of the country’s more than six million Jews.